Popular Lumber Choices for Cabinets

Jan 26

Choosing a wood finish for your cabinets can be a lot more difficult than painted cabinets. There is the distinctive woodgrain of a species of woods, then there are the dozens of stain colors you can pick from. Follow that up with the price spread of different woods and your selections just became more complicated.

Hopefully this blog post can help.

Soft Maple

There’s nothing actually soft about Soft Maple, it’s simply softer than Hard Maple. Soft Maple is our standard material for paint-grade cabinetry. It paints beautifully and is more durable than poplar (another popular wood for paint-grade cabinets).

Our drawers and cabinet boxes are made from clear-coated Maple plywood for its natural beauty, stability, and value.

The downside of maple is that it simply does not stain well Clear coated Maple has a distinctive “yellow’ tone

Alder

Alder as been a very popular choice for cabinetry over the last decade. It is available in both “Knotty” and “Clear” variants.

The advantages of Alder are that it is the same cost as maple, and it takes a stains well.

The disadvantages of Alder are that it has a natural red hue which you may not like, and that it is a softer wood that will be more prone to dings and dents over time.

Cherry

I’ll be honest, I LOVE working with Cherry. It’s a beautiful grain, it’s very smooth, and it’s sufficiently hard. Cherry has been a popular choice for furniture and cabinetry for hundreds of years.

Cherry can be stained in a variety of colors.

The disadvantage of cherry is that it naturally darkens over time (some people love this).

Price-wise a cabinet package made from Cherry will be approximately 5% more than the exact package made from Soft Maple.

Hickory

Hickory is a very hard and durable wood that has large variations between sapwood (lighter colors) and heartwood (darker colors). Some people love this, and some people don’t.

In my opinion, hickory is better suited for rustic styles. It does not take stain well so is best clear coated.

Price-wise a cabinet package made from Hickory will be approximately 5% more than the exact package made from Soft Maple.

Red Oak

Red Oak has been a popular choice for cabinets and furniture for decades. It is cost effective, can be stained many colors and is durable.

Red Oak has a distinctive open-grain pattern that is easily recognizable. Cost wise there is no significant difference in red oak vs painted cabinets.

Walnut

Few woods have the natural beauty of Walnut. It’s just pure chocolatey brown goodness. Simply put, the color, depth, shine, and timeless beauty of Walnut can’t be recreated with any lesser wood and stain.

The disadvantage of Walnut is simply the cost. Price-wise a cabinet package made from Walnut will be approximately 35% more than the exact package made from Soft Maple.